Open letter to world leaders: Put marine ecosystems at the heart of climate policy: We call on national governments to recognise the critical importance of our ocean and blue carbon in the fight against the climate emergency.
Paradise lost? Protecting the Pantanal, a precious ecosystem in crisis: The Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland in the world, and as well as hosting a unique array of wildlife it is an important carbon store, helping to regulate global climate. It is under imminent threat of destruction: the briefing lays out how progressive policy from the EU could help.
Marine Havens Under Threat: The impacts of the climate crisis on tropical coral reefs and the communities that rely on them: This report examines the impact of overfishing, pollution and climate change on coral reefs, and how to protect them.
Climate action to secure human rights worldwide: A position paper for the German political landscape: Germany is in a unique position to become a global leader on climate. On joining the UN Security Council this year, and assuming presidency of the EU in 2020, the country must propel climate change mitigation and facilitate an international agreement to protect the rights of climate refugees. EJF's briefing explains why Germany must rise to the challenge.
Ascending to the UN Security Council this year, and in 2020 assuming presidency of the EU, Germany is being given a prime opportunity to shape global action on climate change. In order to become a credible leader, Germany must meet its 2020 emissions reduction target, and create a legal structure in which it cannot fail to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. As well as mitigating climate change, Germany can safeguard the rights of those being forced to flee their homes because of global warming, facilitating and enshrining an international agreement to protect climate refugees. EJF's briefing explains why Germany must rise to the challenge.
Rights at risk: Arctic climate change and the threat to Sami culture: The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. This is putting its unique ecosystem at risk, and with it the existence of Europe’s only recognised indigenous people, the Sami, who have lived in the Arctic for millennia. The Sami have a clear message for decision makers, from the front lines of climate change: now is the time to act.
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. This is putting its unique ecosystem at risk, and with it the existence of Europe’s only recognised indigenous people, the Sami, who have lived in the Arctic for millennia. Increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather is jeopardising Sami livelihoods and their rights as indigenous people. The Sami have a clear message for decision makers, from the front lines of climate change: now is the time to act.
EJF view on the Global Compact on Migration: Although the new international agreement on migration is a step forward, it cannot replace the legally binding agreement to protect climate refugees EJF is calling for.
A new international agreement on migration – the UN Global Compact on Migration – is set to be adopted in autumn 2018. It covers a range of issues, from the drivers of migration to access to social services, and offers a chance to improve the governance of migration. However, as a soft-power tool that does not place any binding obligations on states, it cannot replace the unambiguous, legally binding agreement to protect climate refugees that EJF is calling for.
Beyond Borders: Our changing climate – its role in conflict and displacement: This report looks at the impact of climate change on food production and security, and the ways in which people are driven from their homes and lands by slow-onset weather events.
This report focuses on one particular result from climate change – the negative impact on food security and how this factor contributed to the desperation and anger that manifested itself against the Al-Assad regime in Syria.
The Syrian war has resulted in more than 470,000 deaths. 6.6 million people have been internally displaced and nearly five million people are residing in camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon as well as an estimated 1.2 million seeking refuge in Europe.
Whilst the war was not solely a result of climate change, the intertwining effects of drought, rural to urban migration, and the increasing unrest due to a lack of government measures to avoid water scarcity, unemployment and growing inequality, are clear.
Falling Through The Cracks: A briefing on climate change, displacement and international governance frameworks: An overview of the legal and policy frameworks governing climate-induced displacement at the international level.
Falling Through The Cracks is intended as an overview of the legal and policy frameworks governing climate-induced displacement at the international level.
It aims to inform policymakers and interested individuals about the range of relevant legal and policy instruments and to assess how effective these various options are at responding to the issue of climate-induced displacement.
EJF's briefing highlights the lack of adequate legal and policy frameworks governing climate-induced displacement at the international level. It finds that the 'protection gap' is more like a series of holes, suggesting the need for a new global framework which is both broad in scope and sufficiently sensitive to the needs of multiple populations of concern.
The Gathering Storm: Climate Change, Security and Conflict: The Gathering Storm: Climate Change, Security and Conflict collates evidence from around the world to show how climate change is acting as a catalyst for conflict and instability.
It demonstrates how some of the most vulnerable people in the world are the first and worst affected by climate change, exposed to negative impacts which erode their human rights and place their homes, livelihoods and cultures at risk.
The report analyses how climate change exacerbates resource competition and water scarcity, generates widespread displacement and risks overwhelming some of the world’s fragile and post-conflict states. It calls for climate change to be recognised as a human rights issue as well as an environmental issue and highlights the need for urgent international action to respond to the human and national security challenges that climate change presents.
A Nation Under Threat: The impacts of climate change on human rights and forced migration in Bangladesh: The report explores how climate change has become one of the major challenges to the enjoyment of the basic rights to life, food, health, water, housing and self-determination in one of the World's most climate vulnerable countries.
The report is based on the findings of an EJF field investigation in Bangladesh. It reveals the significant damage to vital infrastructure, widespread devastation to housing, reduced access to fresh water for drinking, sanitation and irrigation, and rising poverty and hunger caused by increasingly extreme weather events and the gradual but sustained deterioration in environmental security.
Securing Recognition, Protection and Assistance for Climate Refugees: An EJF briefing outlining the legal void facing environmentally-induced displacees with recommendations for action for national governments and individuals.
Climate change and migration: Forced displacement, ‘climate refugees’ and the need for a new legal instrument: Climate change has a range of implications for human rights.
EJF is working with our partners to secure a legally-binding, international protocol that can fill the existing gaps in legislation and ensure that the refugee support system evolves within the context of our changing world. This new legal instrument would recognize people displaced by deteriorating environmental conditions associated with climate change as a vulnerable social group, and confer them equivalent but legally distinct protection to that conferred to refugees fleeing persecution under the 1951 Geneva Convention. This briefing outlines specific recommendations for the EU, including the need to systemically link aid and development, environment and migration policies and decision-making.